Ariana reached out and touched Lyon's arm. "I'll bring them back to you."
Lyon dipped his head. "And I'll be forever in your debt. We all will."
Kougar ducked inside the alcove, nearly bumping his head. Ariana reached deeper, around the statue. As she pressed her palm against the back wall, she began to sing, her soft, musical tones calling a curling trickle of magic. Moments later, the wall beneath her hand began to shimmer.
"Let's go," she urged.
Kougar eyed the wall skeptically. "The statue?" There was no way in hell he could squeeze past it.
"Walk right through her."
Right through stone. Damn Ilina magic.
Taking a deep breath and forcing himself to let go of logic, he stepped forward, pressing through a statue and wall as if they weren't even there.
One moment they were being buffeted by the hot tempest of the temple, the next, a frigid wind whipped at his face, sending Ariana's unbound hair flying. They stood on the temple's celestial roof, looking out over the rugged, snowcapped peaks of the mountains. Surrounded by the sudden silence and stillness, but for the biting wind, the battle that raged within the temple might as well have been a world away.
"Up there." Ariana pointed to the small spiral tower rising from the top of the dome like a crystal stair to the heavens.
"We need to free your feet." He started up the stair. "Can you turn to mist, yet?"
"No, Hookeye's magic is dissipating, but too slowly. I'll open the wormhole, then once I do, I'll need you to throw me inside. I'll turn to mist in there and free myself from these macabre shackles."
Kougar continued up, the crystal stairs ending in a small, open platform.
"This is it," Ariana breathed. "The spot where Queen Rayas used to stand to call the magic that opened the passage into the spirit trap. Set me down, Kougar."
"Even you can't balance on a head."
Their gazes met, a shared moment of amused disbelief that they were having such a conversation. "Help me to my knees."
He helped her kneel, then stood beside her as she lifted her hands above her head, closed her eyes, and began chanting the musical magic of the heavens, the cold wind blowing her hair in a tangle around her head.
Kougar could feel the magic gathering, riding his skin, until finally it leaped at Ariana in the form of a slim bolt of lightning, diving into the crystal that hung between her breasts. The Crystal of Rayas. The force of the blast knocked Ariana back against his knees. He reached out and steadied her, then released her as she continued to chant. If the blast had hurt her, she made no indication.
Moments later, a prism of colors erupted around her, flowing and twisting with power. The air parted to reveal a seething, pulsating mouth of dark crystal.
His heart began to pound as he stared at the death trap that held Hawke and Tighe, a path Ariana intended to travel.
Goddess, if only I
could go myself
and leave her safely behind.
"Now, Kougar." Ariana reached for his hand. "Throw me in. You can't touch it, or it'll pull you in, too."
The blood pounded in his temples. The last thing he wanted to do was toss her in there.
She'll be fine
, he told himself.
She's the Ilina queen, the only one who can do this. The only one who can save Hawke and Tighe.
But as he swung her up and into his arms, his hands clasped tight around her, and he didn't think he could let her go.
Ariana cupped his face with her hands and placed a gentle kiss on his mouth, then pulled back to meet his gaze. "Trust me," she said simply. And he did.
It was the damned Mage still attached to her feet that he didn't trust.
But there was no choice, was there? She was willing to risk her life to save his friends. His heart melted beneath the weight of that gift.
The least he could do was let her try.
With immense effort, he returned her kiss, then pulled back. "Be safe."
Love warmed her eyes as she released him and tucked her arms against her chest. "Do it."
With a deep breath for courage, he did as she demanded and heaved her into the yawning maw. She didn't fall, as he might have expected, nor did she turn to mist midflight, as he'd counted on. She landed as one might in a pool of water, sinking down a short way before bobbing back to the center.
He caught his breath, waiting for her to move, to turn to mist.
Nothing happened. She just lay there.
His heart stopped beating.
Slowly, she began to spin in a slow corkscrew and he saw her face. Her eyes were closed, her expression lax as if she slept.
As if the act of entering the wormhole had rendered her unconscious. She was still corporeal!
His heart turned to dust.
"Ariana!"
This was what Hookeye had intended to happen all along. He'd set this trap, ensuring that Ariana wouldn't turn to mist. And the moment she hit that spirit trap corporeal, her soul would flee. She'd die. With the Queen of the Ilinas dead, there would be no one to free the Ferals.
His heart jackhammered in his chest, his head pounding,
No, no, no!
The breath tore into his lungs like broken glass, ripping him to shreds from the inside out. She was gone. Into the wormhole, floating toward the spirit trap.
His precious Ariana, back in his life for only a handful of days.
Gone.
While his cat shrieked its rage in his mind, Kougar threw back his head and shouted at the heavens, "You're not taking my heart!"
In an act of pure insanity, with a roar of desperate grief, Kougar dove into the wormhole after her.
The wormhole was like some kind of freak-show thrill ride, the dark crystal walls lighting every few seconds, breaking the pitch-blackness, as the force of the energy within spun Kougar in a slow spiral, pulling him inexorably to his death.
The cat inside him growled with approval, sharing the fierce need to protect his mate that consumed him. He wasn't letting Ariana go again. Ever.
Ever
.
If by some miracle they got out of this alive, he would offer her everything he could and take whatever she was willing to give him in return; but he would
not live without her again.
If
they got out of this alive.
The energy pricked at his skin, stinging like ice crystals. And maybe that was what they were, because damn it was cold in there. Even half-frozen, perspiration broke out on his brow, his heart beating against his ribs as he searched the weaving tunnel ahead for Ariana and got no glimpse of her. If he couldn't reach her, and wake her, and get her to turn to mist before they fell into the spirit trap, they were all dead. Ariana, Hawke, Tighe, their three spirit animals. And him.
Goddess, I'm
out of
my
mind for following her in here.
"Ariana!" His voice barely carried in the wind's tunnel-like roar. Ahead, he could see nothing but more twisting curves. But Ariana was up there. She had to be.
Kougar began to swim, propelling himself forward with hard sweeps of his arms, praying he wasn't simply accelerating his own rendezvous with death. Though what difference did it make? Unless he could reach Ariana, none at all.
Over and over, he swam forward, his pulse pounding with adrenaline, his mind narrowed, focused on only one thing. Finally, as he turned a corner, the dark light flashed, and he saw her. She was still spinning slowly, bonelessly, her dark hair floating out around her.
Unconscious.
"Ariana!" Kougar gave a hard pull with his arms, gliding forward. Hookeye's sightless eyes stared at him as he drew close, her feet and their burden trailing her as she floated headfirst toward the trap.
Another push forward, and he was able to grab hold of her leg. With a massive sigh of relief, he pulled her into his arms, but he was moving too fast, the force of his momentum propelling them forward.
Too fast.
Kicking hard the other way, Kougar tried to slow them down. He might not be able to see the spirit trap yet, but he knew it was there, waiting to send them to their deaths.
When he'd done all he could to slow their forward motion, Kougar pulled Ariana against his heart, stroking her ice-cold face, his chest seizing with his need to save her.
"Wake up, Ariana. Wake up, my love." When she didn't stir, he lifted her face to his and kissed her, sliding his tongue along the crease of her unresponsive lips. Sweet, sweet lips that no longer possessed even the slightest tang of darkness. She was finally free of the poison that had consumed her life for so long. It almost killed him that she might never have the chance to enjoy that freedom.
The light flashed again, revealing a throbbing, malevolent darkness no more than a dozen yards away.
The spirit trap
.
His heart stopped, then thundered like a herd of horses. At the rate they were traveling, they had mere minutes before they reached it. Before it was over.
"Goddess, Ariana."
He felt a light pulsing in the mating bond, the soft glow of connection. Inside, his cat began to growl and hiss, urging him to do . . .
something.
A picture flashed in his mind, the cougar at the end of the mating bond, scratching at it as if trying to get in. As if he wanted him to open it.
What the hell? The mating bond was already open, like an untwisted straw. That was the reason the poison had been able to reach him.
Except that wasn't what his cat was asking of him, he realized. If the bond was a small, mystical tube running between them, heart to heart, at either end was a cap. Or perhaps a fine mesh filter. A small separation allowing each of them a measure of privacy. It was
that
that the damned animal wanted him to do away with. He wanted him to open it completely.
Hell no. The mating bond was open enough. He already felt Ariana's strongest emotions bursting through from time to time. A man needed some measure of solitude.
His cat growled.
Inside, he began to quake as he remembered Ariana's accusation, that he'd never opened himself to her.
Yes, but she hadn't been talking about the mating bond.
Of course she'd been talking about the mating bond. About opening himself completely, mind, body, heart, and soul. Holding nothing back. Nothing.
The thought of it made his hackles rise. He didn't share himself like that with anyone.
And what if I do?
What if let her in, fully?
He waited for that sick feeling to punch him in the gut, but felt only a warm wash of love and rightness at the thought of pulling her inside him, tucking her into his heart, and never letting her go.
It was what he wanted.
Goddess, that's what I have
to do.
I have
to open that bond.
Then, maybe I can
reach her.
But how?
The answer, he knew, lay inside. In his heart and the mating bond.
He pulled her tight against him as they spun through the wormhole, cradling her head on his shoulder and thought about how much he loved her, how much he'd always loved her. How much he needed her.
But nothing happened.
Fuck
. How was he supposed to open the thing?
Dark lights flashed around him, illuminating the pulsing blackness of the trap.
They were nearly there.
His pulse thudded in his ears.
He had to find a way to open his heart! He imagined ripping the end off the bond, much as his cat had, clawing at it to reach Ariana. Inside, he felt the bond throbbing, felt his heart cracking. Just a little. Not enough!
I'm a warrior, dammit!
Give him a blade or fangs, and he could battle anything, but this was beyond him.
Goddess.
If only Ariana could help him. She'd know what to do, he felt certain.
Ariana.
Desperation to save her pounded in his mind.
Love for her surged inside him, thicker, blinding, swelling until it threatened to break his ribs. For a moment, he thought it had, as he felt the walls of his chest crack. No, not his chest.
His heart burst open, the mating bond wrenching wide, flooding his mind and body with warmth, and with a light he thought might be bright enough to make him glow.
Love flowed into him with the nectar-sweetness of Ilina song. Ariana's love.
The mating bond glistened and sparkled like a crystal rainbow, casting away all the dark shadows inside him. He drank of her love, letting it seep into his cells and his bones, blending with the overwhelming love he felt for her, then he poured it back into the bond, into her.
"Ariana, come back to me."
The light flashed behind them. In front, lay nothing but the black void of the trap.
"Ariana!"
Kougar?
Her voice sounded thin and distant in his head, but his pulse quickened with hope.
"Sweetheart, you must wake up, or you're going to die. We're both going to die."
What did you do?
Her voice was stronger this time, closer, and filled with wonder as if she, too, were looking at crystal rainbows.
"I love you, Ariana. Completely. Heart and soul." His pulse thundered, his hands shaking. "Wake up, sweetheart, and turn to mist. Now!"
Beneath his touch, she stirred. As he held his breath, her lashes fluttered gently, and rose.
If he'd been standing, his knees would have buckled beneath him.
"Turn to mist, Ariana. Quickly!"
Confusion clouded her eyes. "Kougar?"
He gripped her face, his hand shaking with urgency. "Ariana, we're in the Syphian wormhole, about to enter the spirit trap. And you're flesh. You must turn to mist, or you'll die!" She met his gaze. "We'll both die."
The confusion cleared, her face taking on a mask of concentration as she lifted her head. As they reached the dark void of the spirit trap, Ariana dissolved, turning to mist in his arms. And then she was inside him, wrapping him in her Ilina energy, filling him with elation.
The darkness swallowed them, stealing his sight and senses, but for Ariana. He felt her energy caressing him and her love filling him, flowing through his blood and dancing through his mind, embracing him inside and out.
His cat leaped, sensing the other animals nearby. He tried to talk, but he could no longer feel his body even to do that. The trap had stolen his ability to move. All he could do was trust Ariana to get his brothers and him out of there. And he did trust her, he realized. Implicitly.
Though he could feel nothing, his cat roared inside with anxious excitement. Time ceased to exist. And suddenly, he was moving again at a startling speed, the lights of the wormhole once more pulsing around him. As they shot into a blast of cold Himalayan air, he saw Tighe and Hawke caught fast in Ariana's energy glow. They were unconscious, at best, their big bodies hanging lifeless on either side of her.
His gut clenched, then released slowly as he heard two faint, thready heartbeats. They weren't too late.
A Feral shout of triumph exploded beneath them, then slowly went silent as Ariana set them on the ground among their brothers and the Feral wives. Melisande must have gone to get the women from Feral House.
The Ferals surged forward, catching Tighe and Hawke out of Ariana's energy grasp, then laying them on the ground as Ariana released Kougar and turned to flesh beside him.
He grabbed her to him with shaking hands, kissing her with joy and relief and the love that had burst inside him as they'd joined within the mating bond. A brilliant light that showed no sign of abating. Ever.
"You did it," he murmured, pulling back.
A smile broke over her beloved face. "We did it."
He smiled. "Yes, we did." But when he would have lost himself in her eyes and told her again what was in his heart, she pulled away.
"I have to see them." Her maidens stood on the other side of the yard, watching her with a mix of worry and relief, confusion and pain, as many suffered the growth of new limbs.
With difficulty, he released her and watched her hurry away from him, to her people. Watched as they surged around her.
He swallowed and turned back to his own. Delaney clung to Tighe, while Lyon pulled her gently away, calling for Kara's radiance and asking for Skye to try to help their animals.
Kougar's gaze returned to Ariana. Like a mother with her children, she touched and embraced and murmured soft words to the women he knew to be her life and heart. While on the other side of him, Kara administered radiance, glowing like a thousand-watt bulb, and Skye danced the dance of a Mage enchantress, drawing on her rare skill as a caller of animals to help heal his friends.
He stood between the two groups, needing Ariana, yet unable to walk away from his own any more than she could her maidens.
Was this to be their world then? Together, yet destined always to be apart? No, not always. Once the threat of Satanan's rising was quelled, he'd have more time to spend with her. And he would spend every moment he could. The situation wasn't perfect, but he knew it didn't matter.
He wasn't losing her again.
He wasn't living without her.
Kara released the radiance, and Delaney rushed in to hold her still-unconscious mate.
Moments later, Skye stopped dancing and walked to Paenther. "Their animals are suffering, but they're alive and still minimally connected to the men. Tighe's is the stronger of the two."
Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"I thought the babe was killing him faster," Lyon said.
"He might have been, but Tighe had an advantage Hawke didn't have. Tighe had Delaney to help keep him tethered. Hawke had no one. I've done all I can for now."
"Are they strong enough to transport back to Feral House?"
Skye nodded. "Yes, thanks to Kara's radiance. We'll continue to strengthen them as we can, but ultimately it's up to the warriors."
"They'll fight their way through this." Lyon's voice commanded it be so.
Growls of assent filled the air. The alternative was unthinkable.
Lyon turned to Kougar. "We'll need the Ilinas' assistance to get home."
Kougar nodded, joining him. "What about the vortex? And the Mage?" Though the wind was whipping it up, Mother Nature was far from throwing a tantrum as she would have if they'd killed many more than Hookeye.